Secret Messages
by a mountain of gideon's scones
Summary: He loves her, she loves him. He loves her innocence, she loves his intelligence. But life is in the way. Will they get their moment or will it just fade away? Claire/Michael. Oneshot. For Hanzii


_For Hanzii, who seems to love __**anything**__ to do with Michael, though she prefers EvexMichael, I think…anyway, if you want a good ol' EvexMichael, CHECK HER OUT!_

_I don't own anything_

_Claire and Michael fic… don't like, don't read. _

* * *

He sighs as he imagines running his fingers through her long brown hair, imagines pressing his lips to her own and letting the sparks fly. But he knows they're probably just fantasies, that she is happy with Shane and, he thinks with a wry smile, why would she cheat on him with me? She _hates_ vampires, for all that she says to the contrary, and though she may accept the reasons why he changed, she isn't entirely sure about him and what will change.

But she is the most accepting of the three to him being a vampire: she is the only one who seems capable of holding a conversation for more than about three minutes with him without gagging or looking as if they want to murder him (though the latter is usually just Shane). She seems as if she can see past the monster he knows sometimes appears in his eyes and just sees the golden angel that used to roost there solitarily but now shares with the vampire that holds the reins inside of him.

He fights _so_ hard to keep it under control, but she seems the only one who either is oblivious to it or is strong enough to ignore it. This is part of the reason he loves her… he thinks. He loves her innocence, the way that she knows everything and doesn't care about showing it, the way that she is _so_ beautiful but seems entirely ignorant of it. He can be drawn into a conversation with her and end up agreeing with everything that she says even if he has a different opinion, just to hear her tinkling laugh, have her voice soft and amiable towards him… he gets so much of the other way nowadays, it's nice to have someone happy with him.

He imagines kissing her everyday: when he has nothing to do or is just absently strumming on his guitar, he imagines her perfect face. She is the inspiration for so many of his new songs, the driving force behind him because he wants to do well to impress her. He wants to be able to sing to everyone but for her to know that the song is for her. He wants to be able to run into her arms once he has finished his set, able to know that she is always there for him.

* * *

She wants something more than Shane. He doesn't seem the right person for her. They are… too different. She thought she could get over it at first, but now… now she isn't so sure. Now, she seems to be focusing on someone else. She may try and imagine kissing Shane, but he _always_ morphs into Michael.

Always.

He appeals to her in ways that Shane never has done. His looks don't make a difference in her evaluation of him, though they certainly help the fantasies of him. No, his intellect appeals to her, the way that he is able to hold a conversation with her without effort, able to voice his own opinions and not care if they are different to hers… though they always end up being the same.

She loves listening to his music and how he keeps writing new songs, listening to them and seeming to be able to read a message in it that nobody else can hear. It's as if he is having a personal conversation with her, something that only those two can hear, and she _likes_ that. She likes having a way of being able to get close to him… but should she? Shouldn't she be loyal to Shane, rather than dreaming of Michael?

She walks through to the living room and sees him playing his guitar, making her just sit down and listen. Yep, she can hear it again: it's like a blatant love letter to her but the words are hidden within others, like a riddle. It's as if he wants to proclaim to the world that he loves her, but he doesn't want to be so obvious – as if their love is so special it ought to be kept quiet.

It scares her to confess even to herself that she loves him: it's a realisation that comes to her as soon as she hears the song for the millionth time. It's been in her heart since she first met him, she realises with a jolt, but she had it masked over by the adoration for the fun Shane brought her. But Michael… he's the serious keeper, the one who she could see herself with in the future, vampire or not. She can see past that limitation that Eve completely couldn't, can see past the anger Shane has for him for abandoning humanity for freedom; but they couldn't see the pain being in a half state brought to him.

_She_ was the one who he showed that he was a ghost to first – it was an accident, but she was. He confided in her first, beginning the connection between them which is sometimes the only thing that gets her through the day. Knowing that he is here for her makes her realise that nothing can phase her because she has _Michael_ on her side… and nobody could be better then him.

"Good day?" she breaks the silence in the room by asking the first question that come to mind… but it's better than blurting out that she loves him, isn't it?

He looks up from his guitar and smiles, making the room seem a million watts brighter as he lights it up. Something about him is so _brilliant_, so pure, it doesn't matter that he's a vampire because he is so amazing.

"Yeah, it was fine, you?" he asks her back, not really telling the truth because, you see, the day only became fine when she walked in the room.

"T'was ok," she sighs and something about her tone makes him entirely interested in this. He hates seeing her sad or even slightly sad… so he throws his guitar to the side and stands up, moving across to sit right next to her on the sofa. Being this close to her, feeling her heartbeat pump her delicious blood around her body, makes it almost impossible for him to resist pouncing on her and kissing her until he can't breathe anymore.

"What's wrong?" he asks her, putting his arm around her and pulling her into his chest. He can't resist having the opportunity to have her so close to him and use it and he ends up finding his mouth creeping closer and closer to her face…

"Nothing, really," she protests, pressing her face into his chest. He can hear her breathing, feel every single part of her that is touching him, and feels electricity racing through him at this. He can't help it… he needs her, needs to tell her how he feels soon because otherwise he could go insane!

"Claire… I…" he begins to say 'I love you' but manages to stop himself at the last moment, waiting to see what reaction she has to him saying her name.

She wrenches her head from his chest and feels a moment of desolation at being unable to continue breathing in his perfect scent. She loves how he smells as _well_ as everything else about him.

"Yep?" she questions why he said her name, hoping that he was about to say that he loves her. She doesn't know why she wants that, because it would just complicate everything in her life, but she does…

He opens his mouth to continue, but he gets caught up in her eyes and he forgets everything he was going to say. He just can't see anything other than the chocolate brown orbs of the person he loves, can't even begin to order his thoughts to think anything other than _I love you!_ All he wants to do is to kiss her…

… she locks herself in his sky blue eyes and is almost unable to breathe as she can't get out of his eyes. It's like she has to fight to keep afloat because they are so deep, so intellectual…

She can see the love he has for her in his eyes and thinks that he must be able to see the same thing in her eyes. She aches for him to lean over and kiss her, to feel his cool and hard lips on her own in reality rather than her fantasy.

He seems as if he is about to move closer to her when she hears the rattling of a key in an already open lock – who cares about locking doors in Morganville… the baddies can get in anyway.

Shane's home.

She moves away from him, a flash burn of anger and disgust at what she was going to do racing through her body but she ignores it as she goes to go and see Shane as he walks in.

Michael feels desolate and alone once again as he sees Claire with Shane, the one she is in a relationship with. But it would make him feel better to know that Claire secretly aches for him to come over and kiss her with as much passion as possible…

… but he doesn't know. And he probably never will…

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_Whatcha think?_

_Please review!_

_Vicky xx_


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